The anonymous confession
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The anonymous confession |
| Original title | Benvenuta |
| Country of production | Belgium , France , Italy |
| original language | French |
| Publishing year | 1983 |
| length | 105 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | André Delvaux |
| script | André Delvaux |
| production |
Jean-Claude Batz , Renzo Rossellini |
| music | Frédéric Devreese |
| camera | Charles Van Damme |
| cut | Albert Jurgenson |
| occupation | |
| |
The anonymous confession (original title: Benvenuta) is a Belgian - French - Italian film drama with Fanny Ardant and Vittorio Gassman from 1983. The novel La Confession anonyme by the Belgian author Suzanne Lilar served as a literary source .
action
The young director François wants to make a film of the novel by a Belgian author named Jeanne. To find out more about the characters and the background to the plot, François seeks out the reclusive writer. The book is about a passionate affair: the pianist Benvenuta lives in Ghent with her friend Inge, who is also a pianist. On a concert tour through Italy , Benvenuta met the older lawyer Livio Carpi, who came from Naples . Before long they begin a romance. After Benvenuta returned to Ghent, they wrote each other numerous letters in which they expressed their love for one another. Your longing increases with every letter. When they meet again in Milan , however, Benvenuta rejects Livio. His love letters have conjured up expectations in her that he cannot live up to in reality.
François and Jeanne now meet regularly. It becomes a habit for them to see each other and relate the story of Benvenuta and Livio together. Jeanne then describes how the two lovers get closer again, that they go on trips to Naples and Pompeii , explore Vesuvius and finally go their separate ways again. When Jeanne wants to tell François about the end of the story and Livio's death during another visit, and François rings her doorbell as usual, he learns that Jeanne has had an accident and is now seriously injured in hospital. As he walks sadly through the streets, he suddenly sees Benvenuta, who, dressed in black, is carrying a package with Livio's letters, throws it into a fire and disappears.
background
With Benvenuta , Belgian director André Delvaux returned to film after a break of several years. He adapted the novel La Confession anonymous by his compatriot Suzanne Lilar. The original title of the film, which is also the name of the main character, refers to the poet Rainer Maria Rilke , who is also quoted in the film by actor Mathieu Carrière . Rilke once wrote numerous love letters to Magda von Hattingberg , which he affectionately called "Benvenuta", "the welcome one". Just like Livio in the film, Rilke could not live up to the expectations that his letters had stoked towards his lover, so that he and Hattingberg separated again after a brief relationship. Hattingberg published Rilke's letters in 1943 under the title Rilke and Benvenuta . They were later published under the title Correspondence with Benvenuta .
The film premiered in Paris on September 7, 1983 . In Germany, Benvenuta was shown for the first time on December 25, 1986 on German television.
Reviews
For the lexicon of international film , The Anonymous Confession was a “filmically remarkable reflection on love, memory and creativity, borne by magical realism”. TimeOut London found that the film with its "subtle nuances à la James " was not easy fare, but "very enriching". According to Film4.com, the film is "wonderfully played and skillfully multi-layered". It is about "a quiet, intelligent film that rewards a closer look as soon as the author and the material merge and the lines between reality and fantasy increasingly blur".
Awards
At the World Film Festival in Montreal , producer Jean-Claude Batz and director André Delvaux received the special jury award for the 1983 film. At the Chicago International Film Festival , The Anonymous Confession was nominated for Best Feature Film for the Golden Hugo, which Víctor Erice ultimately won for his film El sur . In 1984 Delvaux's film was also nominated for Best French-Language Film for the César , but was defeated by Alain Tanners In the White City .
literature
- Suzanne Lilar: La Confession anonyme . Gallimard, 1983, 247 pp., ISBN 2-070-25106-3 (French edition).
- Rainer Maria Rilke : Correspondence with Benvenuta . Bechtle Verlag, Esslingen 1954.
- Magda von Hattingberg: Rilke and Benvenuta . German Book Association, Düsseldorf 1951.
Web links
- The anonymous confession in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Pictures of the film on cinema.de
Individual evidence
- ^ The anonymous confession. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ "Working through subtle Jamesian nuance, it's not an easy film but an immensely rewarding one." See Benvenuta on timeout.com
- ↑ "Deliciously acted and masterfully complex, Benvenuta is a quietly intelligent film that rewards close attention as writer and subject merge, and the distinction between what is real and what is not becomes increasingly blurred." See Benvenuta on film4.com